THROWN ONTO THEMSELVES: LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND COMPETITIVENESS IN THE EASTERN CAPE, A SOUTH AFRICAN CASE

Competitiveness has become a pervasive mantra in national and regional economic analysis around the globe. South Africa is no exception. How to build or exploit competitive advantage of firms and localities is what is of concern everywhere. Within local government circles, the pursuit of competitive advantage has grown in the local economic development approach to shift from past efforts characterized by small scale, stand alone projects, which have limited chance of sustainability to more long range systemic interventions. With a more prominent and cohering role, local governments in the Eastern Cape grapple with how to address the competitive challenges of their economies in different parts of the Eastern Cape. In exploring this question, the research findings reveal that lack of access to roads, land reform and land tenure problems, lack of access to agricultural produce markets and a shortage of skills, are the key competitive challenges facing local economies across the Province. Plagued with many disadvantages and given the fact that most of the competitive challenges local governments are facing largely fall beyond their control position, the research concludes that local governments are 'thrown onto themselves'. This research argues that local governments should not be criticized for the nonperformance of the real stakeholders of competitive challenges. A key conclusion of the findings is that alone, local governments will not be able to address the competitive challenges posed by their economies. The research recommends that central government and other actors should play an intervening role, particularly in the former homeland areas of the Eastern Cape Province. Local government's capacity to convene other actors to bolster competitiveness of their economies is considered a critical step in the right direction.